Weekly SNAC, 9 July 2017 - Introducing Jesus

G’day mate, I’d like to introduce you to this bloke I know. I think he’s pretty awesome guy and I think you’d get on really well. Would you like me to introduce you sometime? His name is Jesus…

The word evangelism describes the way that Christians share the good news (or ‘gospel’) of Jesus with those who need to hear it. I think a helpful way to think about evangelism is to compare it to the everyday task of introducing two people to each other. Imagine for a moment you have a friend named Bob who doesn’t know Jesus. If you are Christian then you are someone who knows Jesus. Given the situation, it seems only logical that you should make an introduction! You could even try saying something really simple like the introduction at the start of this article!

One thing I find helpful about comparing evangelism to introducing two people is the observation that you can’t force people to become friends. You can make the effort of introducing two people at a party, but in the end it’s up to them what they do next. Likewise, in evangelism we can’t force people to respond rightly to Jesus. You can speak highly of Jesus, be bold in making the offer of an introduction, you can be godly in your witness, fervent in prayer and yet in the end you cannot force the person to respond rightly. It’s also worth saying that sometimes we may need to make multiple introductions before someone takes us up on our offer.

Think back to a time that you introduced two people who didn’t previously know each other. What did you say? How did it go? Did you feel nervous or confident as you made the introduction? Do you think you could apply a similar process to introduce someone to Jesus? Is there someone you know to whom you could say these simple words: ‘G’day mate, I’d like you to introduce you to this bloke that I know…’

If someone does respond positively to your offer of an introduction, what should you do next? Here are three possible ‘next steps’:

1) Offer to read the Bible with them. If you’re not sure how to do this then please ask for help!

2) Invite them to one of our upcoming Christianity Explained courses and come along with them.